


Politics of the Heart

by SmolBootea



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Voldemort, Bellamione Cult's Valentine's Event 2020, F/F, Ministry of Magic (Harry Potter), Politics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:55:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22638808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmolBootea/pseuds/SmolBootea
Summary: Hermione didn't know what she got herself into when she decided to enter the run to become the new Minister of Magic.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Bellatrix Black Lestrange
Comments: 9
Kudos: 49





	Politics of the Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [belatheo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/belatheo/gifts), [LunaticAtBest](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaticAtBest/gifts).



> Hello everyone! Hope you'll enjoy the story! ^^ Especially you Lulu and you Bela because it's a gift for you guys ^^ A huge thank you to Charlotte for her help and support and to Lazze for being the great person he is and to the cult in general because they are a bunch of sweethearts ^^

Hermione closed her eyes and sighed. As the head of the department of Mysteries it was her job to interview the wannabe employees. She has been sorting through application forms since early in the morning but none of them seemed to have what it takes to work in the department. They still needed fresh blood though. The department had been stagnating these last few months and new ideas would be more than welcome. 

Just as she was going to delve into the application forms once again someone burst into her office. Hermione didn’t even look up. There were only a handful of people who would walk into her office without knocking beforehand and only one of them wore high heels on a daily basis. Her assistant Pansy Parkinson. The girls went at Hogwarts together but they hadn’t been friends form the beginning, far from it. It was only during Hermione’s final year et the wizarding school, after Pansy’s parents’ imprisonment for money laundering and fraud, among other charges, that they began to interact in a more friendly way. Once free of her parents’ influence the girl became almost totally different. She was still cheeky and cunning as hell, a Slytherin through and through, but not in the abrasive way Hermione was used to. Steadily they grew closer and formed a true friendship and here they were now. Hermione knew Pansy to be a hard-worker and she was bluntly honest two qualities she appreciates very much and which were too rare in their field of work.

“The results of my little survey just arrived Granger” said Pansy while walking towards Hermione’s desk and sitting on it as if she owned the place, “Which version do you want Boss? The sugar coated one or the painful one?”

“Well, Good morning to you too Pansy” said Hermione still not looking up, “Why won’t you sit like a well-educated and polite person for once?”

“Now where would be the fun in that Boss? And you like me on your desk, don’t you?” Hermione shoulders stiffened and she felt herself blush in an instant. She didn’t have to look up to know that her assistant was now sporting her usual smug smile.

Deciding to end the girl’s suffering for now Pansy repeated herself “So sugary or painful Granger?”

Hermione sighed once again, she seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. “You know which one I want to hear Pansy so stop playing and try to be serious for a sec alright?” said Hermione in what she hoped was a confident and bossy tone. “Why does this girl always manage to render me into a blushing mess !?” wondered Hermione. “I can give a speech before hundreds of people but one naughty joke from her and all my eloquence is gone” thought the brunette.

“Ooooh I know what you want to hear Hermione” thought Pansy while biting back a smile at her boss’s answer but she decided to let that one go for now, she wasn’t there to deliver good news after all. Pansy waited to have Hermione full attention before speaking.

“Okay painful it is then. As I said the results arrived and they are bad. 55% of the votes are still in favour of Blaise. You are falling behind with 40% of the votes in your favour. To summarize: We have to move it and quickly or we are fucked Granger.”

Hermione throwed her head back, closing her eyes once again and groaned. “How is that even possible!? I did everything I could! Blaise has no real arguments or even a plan to improve the ministry! His entire campaign is based on charming smiles and showing off his wife! Is that all the people want nowadays!?” exclaimed Hermione all the while passing a hand through her hair, lightly tugging at it and disturbing her painstakingly bun made earlier this morning. “What I am missing?” whispered Hermione to herself, “Why am I not enough?”.

Hermione had entered the run to become the new Minister of Magic one year ago. After 2 years as the head of her department the brunette wanted a challenge. She thought that the Ministry needed to be changed at its core if it still wanted to be effective in the years to come. She had ideas, plans but maybe it wasn’t enough? Not for the people anyway it seems.

Pansy was still sitting on Hermione’s desk quietly watching the brunette taking in the news. “Well that could have gone worse I guess” thought Pansy. She truly believed in Hermione’s potential and she knew that she would make a great Minister that’s why she was following her friend into this madness but they clearly had to up their game if they wanted to reach their goals.

“Okay girl enough with the long face already! Or is your famous Gryffindor bravery so easily knocked down?” said Pansy with a smirk. Hermione immediately opened her eyes to pin Pansy with an icy glare at her assistant cheekiness.

“Now there is the fierceness I know!” said Pansy with a smile. “Okay Blaise is still ahead of us but the campaign isn’t over yet. We can still win this!” said Parkinson confidently.

“But how !?” asked Hermione. “We’ve tried everything already!”

“No we haven’t. Following the survey people think that you look cold, unreachable, too serious, uptight, ….”

“Okay, okay, okay Pansy stop! I changed my mind! Try to sugar-coat things once in a while alright?” grumbled Hermione. “I summarize that Blaise is the exact opposite of all these charming compliments then?”

“Well, he is the head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation for one thing. He has a charming wife, two children, they make tons of public appearances, they look like the perfect little family. That concept reassures the population, they can identify to him, they look up to him for his supposed perfect life. Tell me when was your last public appearance Granger?” 

“Well it was …. Euuuuh” Hermione blinked once, twice. “I don’t remember” she finally admitted.

“Exactly. You don’t even remember when it was and if you don’t the people won’t either. They know that you are good at your job and that you are a hard worker nobody can denied that but that’s all they know about you. Your accomplishments are impressive but still the problem is this: they don’t know anything personal about you.”

“They don’t need to know anything personal about me! They should look into my ideas for the Ministry rather than into my private life” grumbled Hermione already dreaming of a hot bath a good book and a glass of wine.

“Now you know how politics work Hermione.” Chastised Pansy. “It is as much about the candidate himself than the candidate's ideas. You can’t win the game if you don’t become a real player.”

Hermione bit her lip before taking a deep breath. She knew that Pansy was right. Of course she was but that didn’t mean that she had to like it. She wanted her private life to stay just that: private.

Seeing as Hermione was still not decided on putting herself out there, Pansy decided to bring out her last argument. “Listen Granger we have two options here either we work on your public image or we decide to play a bit dirty.”

Hermione frowned. “A bit dirty ? What do you mean by that exactly?” asked Hermione intrigued.

“Everybody has secrets Granger even Mister perfect family Zabini. I can dig around a little and should I remind you that we went to school together?” added Parkinson with a sneaky smile.

“We can’t do that!” exclaimed Hermione outraged. “It is highly unethical!” 

“Alright then Boss. Working on your private life it is!” answered Pansy with a victorious wink.

Hermione blinked. Well she walked right into that one. She let her head fall on her desk with a groan. “I hate you” said the brunette, her voice muffled.

“Sure thing Granger. Now I have a few ideas but let’s talk in a less ….” Pansy looked around the mess that was Hermione’s office. She attempted to tidy up the room a hundred times but Granger insisted that she liked it the way it was, stack of papers laying around in various corners of the room, notes all over the brunette’s desk and empty take-out boxes overflowing from the trashcan. “…. In a less gloomy environment.”

…………………………………………………………….

That’s how Hermione ended up at Pansy and Luna’s place sipping on a glass of wine surrounded by the couple and Ginny who were actively discussing her private life or as they said less than tactfully her absence of it.

“Now that’s not fair you guys! I see you every week” said Hermione in an appalled voice.

“Hermione you know I love you to death but hanging out with us doesn’t count in this situation. We have to spice up your life a little bit.” Answered Ginny with a wink towards her best friend.

“My life doesn’t need any spicing up Ginerva thank you very much!” grumbled Hermione before taking a sip of her red wine. Using her best friend surname granted her being hit in the forehead with an olive. “Damn you and you Quidditch player’s skills” muttered Hermione while glaring at Ginny.

Pansy raised an eyebrow at the girl’s response. She really needed to get it together if she wanted to win this. “Maybe for you Granger but the people love drama and it is not by watching a movie with us that they will get it” said Pansy.

“Hermione how long has it been since you last dated someone?” asked Luna in a gentle voice.

Hermione evaded the question by a gesture of her hand. “You know I don’t have time for this these days Luna and I’m very much happy as am I right now.”

It was Luna’s turned to frowned this time. “But don’t you miss it?” she asked.

“Miss what?” Hermione thought a grimace forming on her lips. The endless arguments she had with Ron about her wanting to build her career before starting a family? The fact that Ron was expecting her to be the perfect little house wife? Or the fact that their discussions only involved Ron’s job and Ron’s hobby’s and Ron’s family?

“No Luna I don’t really miss it. At all” answered Hermione with a sigh.

Sensing that Hermione was becoming gloomier with each passing minutes Pansy said “Well Granger you have to get back into it because the people love nothing more than a good love story!”

“I already said that I didn’t have the time for that Pansy! Why won’t you just leave it !?” snapped Hermione. She was getting tired of all this talk about her private life, she just wanted to roll up in a blanket with a Crookshanks in her lap, a good book in her hands and forget all about the world for an hour or two.

“Maybe we can find a compromise” Luna’s tender voice broke the tension that was rising in the room. All the girls shifted their gaze to the blonde sitting next to Pansy on the couch.

“What do you mean babe?” asked Pansy to her girlfriend.

“Well you are still in contact with Draco correct?” asked Luna.

“I’d rather throw up slugs for the rest of my live than date Draco Luna!” exclaimed Hermione in a disgusted tone before Pansy could even answer which granted her a light tap on the head from Ginny. “Bloody hell let the girl finish, will you?” said the redhead slightly amused. At that Hermione had the decency to blush. “Sorry Luna, please continue” said the brunette in a contrite tone.

“As I was going to answer before being rudely interrupted by a seemingly pent up Gryffindor…” said Pansy an eyebrow raised in Hermione’s direction. “Yes, I’m still in contact with him, he is like a brother to me after all but I still don’t know how this could help us?” finished Pansy in a perplexed tone. 

“You’re so cute when you’re confused darling” said Luna while looking tenderly at Pansy which made the girl blush instantly. “And even more when you blush” added the blonde while gently caressing the other girl’s cheek and effectively rendering the Slytherin speechless.

“Humhum ….. Euuuh Ladies? We are still here you know? Not that I don’t enjoy you turning Pansy in a gay panicky mess but we still have a problem on our hands.” Said Ginny with an amused and fond smile.

“Of course Ginny” answered Luna immediately while Pansy was still looking at her girlfriend like a lost puppy. “Well I think the Black family could actually help Hermione with this” said Luna confidently.

“Uh?” What do you mean?” asked Pansy still a bit out of it. Luna’s only answer was the wiggle her eyebrows at the Slytherin girl.

“Oh!” gasped Pansy finally understanding what Luna meant! “Babe you’re a genius” said Parkinson before briefly kissing her girlfriend. “But Hermione will never agree to that!” whispered Pansy to herself.

“Again ladies could you translate that for those who don’t speak love sick puppy fluently please?” asked Ginny with a smile.

“Okay Hermione before I explain what Luna’s idea is you have to promise me not to freak out.” said Pansy calmly in what she hoped was a reassuring tone.

Hermione squinted her eyes in suspicion at her assistant. This wasn’t Pansy’s usual behaviour at all. “Why would I freak out about this?” she asked perplexed.

Pansy sighed “Just promise to hear us out Granger! You want to win this campaign, don’t you?” she asked her gaze fixed on Hermione.

Hermione bit her lip. “Well I don’t really have any other options, do I? What are you guys thinking about? I’ll do my best not to freak out.” said the brunette, her curiosity picked by Pansy’s attitude.

“Well what do you know about the Black family exactly Hermione?” asked Pansy.

“I’ve heard stories like everybody else I guess?” answered the brunette. “They are from the high wizarding society, very proud of their blood status and filthy rich of course”.

“Yes, they are very rich indeed and do you know why?” asked Pansy.

“Old family’s money and investments I guess but this is still not telling me how they could help with my campaign.” Answered Hermione getting more confused by the second.

“All of that is true but the Black family wealth doesn’t reside on these alone. The Black sisters created a company a few years ago to increase the family’s wealth and power and I have to admit that it worked fantastically well.”

“Pansy stop beating around the bush!” exclaimed Hermine exasperate by her friend’s antics.

“An escort company” said Luna with a smile. “The Black sisters have an escort company.”


End file.
